Stelarc...he was my art teacher when I was living in Japan from grades 2-5! I remember he was definitely unique and fascinating and always wore the same outfit. I recall there being a bit of an issue with one of his performances (he did outside of school) where he hung himself from the flesh with hooks.
I looked him up last year and found what he was doing now is pretty spectacular. Wikipedia summed it up quite well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelarc):
Stelarc (born Stelios Arcadiou on June 19, 1946) to Greek Cypriot parents is an Australian performance artist whose works focus heavily on futurism and extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centered around his concept that the human body is obsolete. He currently serves as Principal Research Fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England.
Stelarc's idiosyncratic performances often involve robotics or other relatively modern technology integrated with his body somehow. In 25 different performances he has hung himself in flesh hook suspension, often with one of his robotic inventions integrated. In another performance he allowed his body to be controlled remotely by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet. He has also performed with a robotic third hand, a robotic third arm, and a pneumatic spider-like six-legged walking machine which sits the user in the center of the legs and allows them to control the machine through arm gestures.
His works have been heralded for their abilities to embrace a wider audience, the best example of this was his allowance for the worldwide audience to log into the exhibition and thus access or control the electrodes his own body was hooked up to.
So check it out! He's doing incredible things with new media and technology. Here is his website: www.stelarc.va.com.au
>Additional info on Stelarc.
>>interview with Stelarc "Extended Body": www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=71
>>interview with Stelarc "Body without Memory": www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=354
>>text about his "Prosthetic Head": http://neme.org/main/252/prosthetic-head
-Filiz emma Soyak
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